Rep. Brandon Gill backed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz into a corner on Wednesday during a House Oversight Committee hearing, where he forced Tim Walz to squirm on questions about the fraud and retaliation against whistleblowers in Minnesota.
Notably, he forced Walz to admit to the staggering inflation of Medicaid claims and that the numbers don’t make any sense. Walz even agreed that, as Governor, he is responsible for any tax dollars defrauded from the people.
After establishing that Walz was either complicit or grossly incompetent in allowing billions of dollars to be stolen through programs like autism assistance, which saw a 500-fold increase over a six-year period, Gill tore into Walz for his administration’s retaliation against whistleblowers.
While Walz did not admit that Minnesota retaliated against countless individuals who attempted to highlight fraud, Walz was scrambling while attempting to deny that whistleblowers had their reputations destroyed.
“You supervise a lot of employees, and as you have said, the buck stops with you, and your administration has treated whistleblowers like absolute dirt, and that’s a big reason why we’ve seen so much of our hard-earned tax dollars defrauded,” Gill said as Walz tried to deny all responsibility for how other state agencies have treated whistleblowers.
“This committee has spoken to nearly 30 whistleblowers, most of which are current employees in your administration, who have intimate knowledge of what’s been going on, who have all stated that they faced retaliation for calling out fraud,” he added.
WATCH:
Gill: Using 2018 as a baseline, do you know what that program [early intensive development on behavioral intervention benefit] paid in Medicaid claims?
Walz: I do not, Congressman.
Gill: It’s about $671,000. Do you know what that program paid in Medicaid claims in 2024?
Walz: I don’t have the number in front of me.
Gill: $342 million. That’s about a 500x increase over six years. Was there 500 times the number of autism patients in that time period?
Walz: I couldn’t speak specifically to it, but I will say, Congressman, that—
Gill: That doesn’t sound reasonable, right? That was a 500x increase in the number of autism patients in six years, right?
Walz: Correct, and that’s why we ordered on site visits, starting backin 2024.
Gill: So, we agree that that doesn’t sound reasonable. Would you also agree that a single taxpayer dollar wasted on fraud is a dollar too much to tolerate?
Walz: Yes.
Gill: Yep. And would you agree that, as governor, ultimately, you’re responsible if tax dollars are defrauded?
Walz: Yes, I would agree.
Gill: Would you also agree that calling somebody racist is a serious accusation?
Walz: If they are racist? I think it’s pretty accurate.
Gill: I’m asking you, is that a serious accusation to make about somebody?
Walz: I think it’s just an observation of reality.
Gill: All right, well, let’s go there. Is it racist for a government official to identify fraud?
Walz: No.
Gill: No. Is it Islamophobic to identify fraud?
Walz: No, I don’t believe it would be.
Gill: How come multiple whistleblowers have said that your administration told them not to say anything about widespread fraud across multiple agencies because doing so would be considered racist or Islamophobic?
Walz: I can’t speak to it because it’s not anything I would say.
Gill: Well, that’s what your administration has said and has told whistleblowers, and as you just testified, the buck stops with you. It’s what you stated in your statement, whenever you announced you weren’t running again. Are you familiar with Faye Bernstein?
Walz: Yes, I’m familiar with the name.
Gill: She’s a Democrat, isn’t she?
Walz: I wouldn’t know that.
Gill: She’s stated publicly that she’s a Democrat. She’s only voted Democrat in her life. She’s also stated publicly that she was retaliated against and called racist and that her work responsibilities were diminished whenever she was highlighting fraud within your administration. Are you familiar with that?
Walz: I couldn’t speak to that specific allegation.
Gill: Why do you think she would say that?
Walz: I can’t speak to what she claimed.
Gill: You have no idea?
Walz: I do not.
Gill: You would agree that the tone in your administration comes from you ultimately, right? The tone of how you might deal with whistleblowers.
Walz: Right, we protect them.
Gill: It doesn’t sound like you’re protecting them. We heard from Representative Kristin Robbins quote, We have dozens of credible whistleblower reports saying the exact same thing that people were told not to say anything because they’d be called racist or Islamophobic, or it would hurt the state. Do you think it’s racist or Islamophobic to highlight and try to stop fraud?
Walz: It is not, and I certainly wouldn’t—
Gill: It’s not, but that was the message your administration was sending to multiple whistleblowers.
Walz: I can’t speak to that.
Gill: You can’t speak to that? No, you don’t want to speak to that, I think.
Walz: I have over 40,000 employees–
Gill: Do you think whistleblowers should be retaliated against?
Walz: Absolutely not. They have strong protections in Minnesota, and lots of pass–
Gill: That’s not what we’re hearing from whistleblowers. Faye Bernstein, who, again, has stated that she is a Democrat, she’s only ever voted Democrat, says—
Walz: That doesn’t matter whether she’s Democrat or Republican.
Gill: That she was subjected to quote, ‘a smear campaign’ for trying to make leadership aware of illegal contracting practices. Why do you think that happened?
Walz: I can’t speak to that Congressman because we don’t do it.
Gill: You just don’t, you don’t know anything?
Walz: I do know that it, that we don’t— we have strong whistleblower protections, and I can’t speculate—
Gill: That’s not what the whistleblowers are saying. According to another report, quote, there’s just a continuous effort to stifle you, to shut you up, and it’s impossible to overcome. Your administration’s response to whistleblowers has also been described as, quote, nearly unbearable retaliation. We’ve heard claims that, quote, they’ve been denied vacations, promotions, and that it’s hurt people’s careers to speak out against fraud. Do you think that that had something to do with the prevalence of fraud in your administration?
Walz: I can’t speak to it, but it doesn’t happen.
Gill: Are you going to take responsibility for this?
Walz: I certainly— I supervise 40,000 employees. State agencies have their own—
Gill: You supervise a lot of employees, and as you have said, the buck stops with you, and your administration has treated whistleblowers like absolute dirt, and that’s a big reason why we’ve seen so much of our hard-earned tax dollars defrauded.
Walz: There’s, look, Congressman, I told you, we have strong protections. We have an office of—
Gill: This committee has spoken to nearly 30 whistleblowers, most of which are current employees in your administration, who have intimate knowledge of what’s been going on, who have all stated that they faced retaliation for calling out fraud.
Walz: I can’t speak to them and what they felt.
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